America's 'Most Powerful Liberal' Revealed?

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a well-known liberal who has torpedoed the post-2008 negotiating process between the states and big banks, has many a head turning — and turning left.

A story on Politico paints Schneiderman as “one of the ringleaders of a nascent, post-Obama left, a kind of liberal tea party.”

Schneiderman, who succeeded Andrew Cuomo in 2010, told Politico he thought President Barack Obama has been too soft on Wall Street following the 2008 economic fallout.

“Most of the American people do not feel there has been a full airing out of these issues, and they do not like the fact that people who caused these problems have not been held accountable,” he said.

After investigating the proposed settlements between all 50 attorneys general and the banks, Schneiderman pulled the proverbial rug out from under them and infuriated Wall Street.

Politico said the move “put him in the forefront of a fledgling liberal alternative to Obama whose tendrils can be seen sprouting in Elizabeth Warren’s Massachusetts Senate campaign, in former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold’s new group Progressives United, and in the attorneys-general general joining Schneiderman’s criticism of the bank deal.”

Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, said her longtime friend is “steeped in the progressive movement.”

Schneiderman previously served in the New York State Senate and was known for his reform efforts on ethics, government, and tax fraud.
Politico said the settlements that have come under fire “may be Democrats’ last chance to go after the big banks they see as the root of the trouble with the U.S. economy.”

Schneiderman holds the match and stands as a symbol of renegade progressivism.

“Oh well, now I’ve found another group of people who want me to go in and get along,” Schneiderman told Politico.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a well-known liberal who has torpedoed the post-2008 negotiating process between the states and big banks, has many a head turning and turning left.
A story on Politico paints Schneiderman as one of the ringleaders of a...